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The Southern Cross, Page 14 CifTiJiL^dlirflll ©IF SUHHUtt JJ©]fclIEi ttlfcl^ Thursday, November 23, 2000
The great fire of 1898
Sacrament is reserved: From his
priests to the Great High Priest.
Bishop Becker did not live to see the
completion of the rebuilt Cathedral.
He died on July 24, 1899.
The tremendous generosity of
The Cathedral as it appeared at the dedication of the rebuilt Cathedral, October 28, 1900.
By Father William O. O’Neill
O n Sunday, February 6, 1898, the
Cathedral of Saint John the
Baptist was destroyed by fire. The
fire was noticed at 10:00 p.m. by the
driver of a streetcar who alerted the
fire department.
At the same time there was a major
fire in progress at River Street. The
entire fire department was there. It
was 45 minutes before the first fire
engine arrived at the Cathedral fire.
Because of the fire at River Street, the
water pressure was so low that the
stream of water from the fire hoses
hardly reached the walls of the Cathe
dral. There was no chance of saving
the building. The wind was blowing
toward the southwest and because of
this the Cathedral Rectory and Saint
Vincent’s Academy were saved.
Officially, the blaze that gutted the
Cathedral was never explained.
Parishioners who attended a service
earlier that Sunday evening recalled
that the Cathedral seemed abnormal
ly warm, leading to speculation that
possibly the heating furnace had mal
functioned.
The cornerstone of the original
Cathedral was laid on November 19,
1873, and the building was dedicated
on April 30, 1876. It had cost
$150,000 to build. The two spires
were added in 1886 at a cost of
$35,000. The contents were valued at
$15,000, making this a loss of
$200,000 — in 1898 dollars (be
tween $10 million and $16 million
today). The insurance covered only
$60,000 worth of damage. The exist
ing Cathedral was rebuilt at a cost of
$150,000. The first donation toward
rebuilding the Cathedral came from
Fitzhugh Lee White, the six-year-old
son of the Rev. Robb White, Rector
of Christ Episcopal Church in
Savannah. He gave $5.00, the entire
contents of his piggy bank. The
rebuilt Cathedral was dedicated on
Sunday morning, October 28, 1900.
As the Cathedral parish recently
recalled that sad event of one hun
dred years ago, we gave thanks to
God that no lives were lost in the
fire, and we remembered with grati
tude the generosity of these who con
tributed to the rebuilding of our
beautiful Cathedral. We also gave
thanks for the generosity of the
priests from other dioceses who
responded to Bishop Thomas A.
Becker’s plea for financial assistance
to rebuild the Cathedral. Their gen
erosity is memorialized by the
inscription at the base of the Sacred
Heart Altar where the Blessed
Cathedral parishioners and of people
throughout the Diocese of Savannah
in supporting the various renovations
and repairs to the Cathedral down
through the years is deeply and pra
yerfully appreciated. After one hun
dred years, the Cathedral is undergo
ing a major restoration. The leaking
roof has been replaced, as have been
the rotten window frames. A new
marble font and altar, a new wooden
confessional and pulpit, a new ambry
for the holy oils and a new taberna
cle for the Blessed Sacrament are
just a few of the highlights of the
current restoration, to be unveiled at
the Sesquicentennial Mass on
November 29, when the restored
Cathedral will be dedicated. A little
more than a hundred years after the
rebuilding of 1900, the Cathedral has
again been completely restored, to
preserve it for future generations.
May the records of one hundred
years from now reflect that we of
this generation are no less generous
than those who made sacrifices to
build the original Cathedral of Saint
John the Baptist in 1873 and who
had to make an additional sacrifice
some few years later to rebuild the
Cathedral which was destroyed by
the fire of February 6, 1898.
The sacrifices of our generation will
bear fruit when the Cathedral of Saint
John the Baptist is reopened on No
vember 29, 2000, and once again dedi
cated to the worship of almighty God.
Father William O. O’Neill is
Rector of the Cathedral of Saint
John the Baptist.
Above: The Cathedral’s exterior walls remain standing after
the fire on February 6, 1898. Except for the marble of the
altars, the interior was basically gutted. But within two
years the structure would be rebuilt.